Chapter 413: Fish Bait

“Seventh Bro, you’re too awesome! Your predictions were too accurate!” the monkey shouted in worship.

Lu Yin put Progenitor Wushang’s hide away and coughed. He had not fully blocked that branch and had actually been injured by it. He grabbed the man’s cosmic ring and cut his finger before letting the man’s blood drip onto the ring, unlocking it. From the ring poured out a large pile of items.

The cosmic ring was not as large as the one that Northgate Lie had given Lu Yin, but it was not small either. There were many things inside: about ten vials of special drugs from Shamrock Enterprises as well as other unknown medicines, weapons, star crystals, and even star essence.

Lu Yin was shocked, as this person possessed a considerable amount of wealth. His brother’s power had not been simple, and this Cruiser was the same. They were elites among Cruisers and should possess some influence. Still, none of that mattered anymore since everything of his now belonged to Lu Yin.

He looked through the pile, but it was still the star crystals and star essence that attracted Lu Yin’s attention the most. There were 220,000 star crystals, which wasn’t much, and ten star essence, which was the same as 100,000 star crystals. Not bad, not bad. This is good enough for now.

He drank a vial of the Shamrock Enterprises’ special medicine and suddenly felt much better.

The pile also held three Mavis Bank cards, one memory chip, and a large pile of objects that Lu Yin could not identify.

For people who roamed the universe, nothing could surpass the importance that resources and medicines held, except for battle techniques and cultivation methods. This group had been led by this Cruiser’s brother, so unfortunately for Lu Yin, the most valuable items had all been on that brother’s body.

Still, this was already a pretty good profit.

The wealth of a single Cruiser could allow Lu Yin to temporarily break free from his frustration of being destitute. Although the Cruiser’s ring didn’t hold much wealth, it was at least enough to buy another radiant-grade spacecraft.

He felt rather depressed, as his vessels never had happy endings.

“Seventh Bro, what should we do with this bastard?” the monkey asked, fuming with rage. If not for this person, they would never have ended up in their current situation, with this unknown fate of if they would ever be able to escape from this place.

Lu Yin crouched down, placed a hand on the man’s abdomen, and mercilessly unleashed Thirty Stacks. There was a soft boom, and the white beach shook as the man was crushed beneath the sand. The Cruiser woke up and opened his eyes as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

After opening his eyes, the man felt an intense pain in his abdomen, and it felt as if his organs had been crushed. He was now in a much worse condition than before.

Lu Yin stood on the beach and looked down on the Cruiser from above with cold eyes.

The man fearfully looked at Lu Yin. “I- I didn’t do it on purpose. I was trying to test your vigilance. After all, if we are going to cooperate, I can’t work with someone who’s not alert.”

Lu Yin felt nothing but disdain. “So you tested me?”

The man panted heavily and released a breath. “Yes, tested. I’d be happy to work together with you.”

Lu Yin laughed. “Of course. Or at least, I’ll be very happy.” Then, in full view of the man’s panicked gaze, Lu Yin’s star energy took the shape of a thread extending from his fingertip. Lu Yin then tied the man up before tossing him into the golden ocean as if he were fishing.

The man was terrified. “No! Please, let me go! I’m begging you! I’ll give you resources, battle techniques, weapons, anything! Please, let me go!”

There was a plop, and the man’s words were drowned out under the water.

“Seventh Bro, this person’s shameless,” the monkey ridiculed.

Lu Yin’s fingertip quivered while the man shivered in fear beneath the surface of the ocean. Although the water was normal, it was unknown if there was anything else in the water. Humans feared the unknown, and this man had just been tossed around by Lu Yin like bait.

After quite a while, Lu Yin pulled him ashore.

Splash~~

The man spat out another mouthful of blood. His entire body was drenched, and he just lay there on the shore, shivering.

When Lu Yin saw the man’s unharmed state, he muttered, “It looks like it’s safe near the beach. But who knows if it’s safe further out or if there are some terrifying organisms lurking in the depths.”

The man’s face paled, and he grew even more terrified. His extreme fear coupled with his serious injuries caused his eyes rolled back as he fainted.

“Seventh Bro, you’re using him as bait to explore the ocean?” the monkey asked.

Lu Yin grunted. “This place is too weird. I won’t risk exposing myself to unknown dangers.”

“You’re too cruel,” the monkey mumbled.

Lu Yin was unhappy. “It’s either him or you. Your choice.”

“Seventh Bro, I actually think that you’re incredibly brilliant. How did I not think of using this guy as bait? I should learn well from Seventh Bro and try to improve myself every day.” The monkey immediately started flattering Lu Yin.

Lu Yin casually fed the Cruiser a special medicine since he did not want the man to die. After all, it would be difficult to find another Cruiser to use as bait in this place.

This person held a grudge against Lu Yin, so he acted without any reservations. If this Cruiser had been just another bystander, then he might not have been able to bring himself to do this, though Lu Yin himself readily acknowledged that he was not a good person.

After some rest, Lu Yin awakened the man once more and threw him into the ocean to continue his noble fishing trip.

This was not Lu Yin’s first time fishing, as he had also fished while on the Astral River Ark before. Back then, he had been nervous every time he cast his line from the ark as he feared something freakish biting, and this current endeavor was no different.

The vast ocean and the tall mountain held an indescribable terror to Lu Yin. The number of rune lines that a person or item possessed represented the amount of influence that they had on the universe, but both the ocean and the mountain had an absurd amount of runes converging around them. The amount was so high that his scalp turned numb at the thought, and he didn’t dare to approach them personally.

As he moved along the white beach, Lu Yin rotated between using the Cruiser as bait and looking into the distance to see if there was an exit.

After two days, Lu Yin casually tossed the Cruiser into the ocean once again. After his initial period of fear, the Cruiser now felt only numb. He longed for death at this point, since he would no longer have to suffer if he died.

“It looks like either the coastal waters are safe, or the entire ocean is safe. You’re very lucky,” Lu Yin commented. The Cruiser, still injured from Lu Yin’s earlier punch, stood nearby.

The man coughed up some blood and glared at Lu Yin. “Kill me. If you have the ability, then just kill me already.”

Lu Yin’s lips curled upwards. “There’s no need to try to agitate me. You don’t really want to die. If you do wish to die, then just kill yourself. I won’t stop you.”

The Cruiser clenched both fists as his entire body quivered, either out of anger or fear it was unknown.

“Alright, let’s continue fishing,” Lu Yin shouted as he tossed the Cruiser back into the ocean again.

A day later, Lu Yin looked behind him to check the path that they had taken, and he saw that his path had deviated, as expected.

After he had started testing the ocean with his bait, he had walked along the beach in a straight line for three days. However, his path had deviated from a straight line, even though he had never moved further away from the forest or the ocean. This meant that the beach was curved in an arc. This further confirmed his guess that the entire sealed space was circular in shape, which included both the golden ocean and the forested area.

Of course, this was just a conjecture of his. It could also be that just the ocean was curved. However, Lu Yin trusted his own intuition. When he calculated the arc and angle from his three days of travel, it was highly probable that this place was circular.

Lu Yin made the calculations again. If this space was actually circular, then it would take him at least half a year to walk around this ocean once with his current speed, which was too long.

He turned around and looked at the mountain in the ocean, as that place was the only variable he could see.

He did not wish to be trapped in this sealed space forever. Thus, even if approaching the mountain was dangerous, it was still better than being trapped in this place for the rest of his life.

“Monkey, have you translated those words yet?” Lu Yin suddenly thought of this matter from before.

The monkey was agonized. “This monkey has reviewed all the journals and written records and used them for comparison. I’ve only translated one character so far—‘hate.’”

“Hate? Hate whom?” Lu Yin was curious.

“I just said that I’ve only translated one word. There’s thirteen characters in total, and this ‘hate’ word is actually four of them.”

“To pierce someone with five pikes is indeed an act of hate,” Lu Yin murmured, “Alright, you keep translating.”

He then cast a malicious look at the bound Cruiser.

At this moment, the man was still numb. His entire body was soaked in water, and the resentment in his eyes had only grown more intense.

He sensed Lu Yin’s gaze on him, and his heart sank. He actually felt some desire to jump into the ocean of his own accord.

Lu Yin gently tugged on the star energy rope. “Don’t be so anxious to jump into the ocean. We’ve worked hard to explore the coastal waters these past few days, so now, we need to set higher goals.”

The man felt his scalp turn numb, and the resentment in his eyes was replaced with dread. “Wha- what is it you want?”

Lu Yin grinned and casually tossed the man into the ocean. This time, the star energy rope kept extending. The man was thrown far out into the depths of the ocean by an enormous force, and his face went pale. The depths were an entirely new territory and were filled with the terror of the unknown. He recalled the fear that he had felt the first time he had been tossed into the ocean, and he could not stop himself from pleading for his life, but it was useless. Lu Yin had already made up his mind to start making his way towards the mountain.

He felt that scaling the mountain might be the only way out.

Plop!

The man had been tossed dozens of kilometers into the ocean, which was a distance that could not be seen by any regular human. Only cultivators could see such a distance, though Lu Yin could see even further.

Given the Cruiser’s current condition, if Lu Yin wanted to maintain control of him, then he could not lessen the intensity of his star energy any more. This distance was Lu Yin’s limit. Any further and the man would be able to break free from the star energy restraints and escape.

Lu Yin stood on the beach and waited anxiously. An hour later, he suddenly pulled on the string and hauled the man back, who slammed onto the beach while panting heavily.

“It looks like there’s really nothing in the ocean,” Lu Yin muttered.

The man glared fiercely at Lu Yin and then at the mountain, his thoughts unknown.

After multiple days of probing the ocean with the man as bait, Lu Yin finally decided to enter it himself since he felt that things were safe.

“Seventh Bro, be careful. This place is very weird. Let’s keep exploring a while longer.” The monkey tried to dissuade him from entering the ocean.

Lu Yin shook his head. “The furthest range I can still control this person at is only about ten kilometers. He can escape if I cast him out any farther. If we wish to keep exploring, then we can only do that by entering the ocean.”

The monkey knew that Lu Yin was right, and he didn’t want to stay trapped in this place forever either.

Lu Yin did not plan to delay things, so he directly headed out across the golden ocean, moving straight towards the mountain.

By his calculations, the mountain should not be that far from the beach. However, after traveling for a bit, Lu Yin tossed the Cruiser out to act as bait and test the water in front of him for half a day. Then, he would continue on only after determining that the path forward was safe.

By repeating this routine, Lu Yin covered hundreds of kilometers and gradually approached the high mountain. It would only take him a few more rounds of fishing.

Plop!

The captive Cruiser was tossed out in the ocean again. He had already lost count of how many times he had been tossed out. He was now certain that there was nothing in the ocean and that it was very safe. His terror had gradually disappeared, and his thoughts had cleared themselves. Through the crystal clear water, he could see Lu Yin in the distance, cautiously scanning his surroundings.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The Cruiser suddenly activated his innate gift and exerted his maximum strength to forcefully break free of the star energy restraints. Then, he quickly dashed in another direction.